Watching From Beyond
by L-Ishida-Dark
Summary: Death is but the next great adventure, and in the land past it there's plenty of time to watch over those left behind. And by 'watch over' we mean 'indulge in witty commentary'.


**It Begins As It Ends, With A Trail Of The Dead.**

**September 1981**

The sky over the Cotswolds was grey and dismal, scowling down on windswept hills pockmarked with the stubble of recently cropped wheat. There wasn't a village for miles, and no Muggle eyes to see the two young wizards who trudged over the fields. Their black Auror's robes flapped batlike in the biting wind, and unseen eyes watched as the twins squabbled their way cheerfully towards a small copse on the hilltop, chattering away in their own personalised slang, the same way they had done for years.

"Well, this is a merry jolly outing, isn't it?" the shorter of the two, Gideon, grinned, looking around the empty field. "Nice tracking, Fab. I can tell this is an absolute _hub_of Oepidus activity. I'm sure Oepidus Rex himself is just down that rabbit hole there. No, wait, that's just Alice Liddell." Cracking his neck from side to side, he twirled his wand deftly between his fingers. "And it's going to start raining, look. Ah, the sacrifices they force us to make! It'll frizz your hair something awful," he added warningly, and smirked.

The years since Hogwarts had left surprisingly few marks on him. He still wore his own hair back in a long ponytail, although he'd cut it back to just past his shoulders a few weeks previously, when it had been set on fire during a mission (an inconvenience for which he still somewhat suspected Fabian), and it was about half the length of his brother's. He had a heavier tan than he had had in his student days, and a certain grace to his movements that had been lacking before he'd become a fully-fledged Auror. Everything else, though, was just as it had been; perhaps he had gained an inch or two in height and built up his muscle a little, but otherwise, he was eminently recognisable to any of his contemporaries as Gideon Prewett, (co)King of Pranksters. He certainly still had that same mischief to his expression.

"Oh no, I'm all shielded up." Fabian grinned, patting his hair proudly. Although his own hair had remained intact, the years had changed him more than his brother. His long hair, which in all his school photos had cascaded loose, his pride and joy, was tied back tightly in a warrior's queue folded over at the tail end under a neat metal cap (to prevent the same thing happening to him as had happened to Gid, he always said), and a near miss with an unexpected werewolf had left a long row of scratched scars down his wand arm.

"Woods?" Gideon suggested, pointing with his wand towards the little grove.

"Woods, indeed," his brother agreed after a moment, "and on that note, I'll thank you not to cast aspersions on my tracking skills, Monkeyman. There are at least ten of our good friends the Oeipidi hiding somewhere in them there trees, I'd bank my hair products on it."

"That's a dangerous bet, Newtboy," Gideon said, shaking a finger at his brother. "If you lose, I'm _burning_ your hair products. All of them. In a big bonfire. And then throwing flaming cans of hairspray at Oepidus Rex from afar, laughing maniacally all the time." He grinned, tossing his wand from hand to hand, and started up the hill towards the little wood. "Here, Oepidi, Oepidi, Oepidi! C'mon, you disease-ridden prats, I haven't walked all this way on a wild-goose chase, have I?" He looked back at Fabian, smirking. "It's a win-win situation. Either we get an epic battle, which will be awesome, or I burn your hair products!"

"The question won't arise," Fabian retorted, "because there's going to be an epic battle tonight in the woods. Anyway, even if you did win, how would you find Oepidus Rex to throw bottles at him, considering how much worse than me you are at tra...hist! A noise!"

Gid bit back his retort to listen, cupping a hand exaggeratedly around his ear. "Aha! The enemy approacheth! And I'm just as good at tracking as you, anyway," he added as an afterthought, sticking his tongue out. "_I_ wouldn't have Apparated us into the middle of Farmer Plod's field in search of a wood half a mile away."

"Made you look," Fabian grinned, sticking his own tongue out in return. "And you're right. You would have Apparated us into a field _two_ miles awa...seriously, that I definitely heard."

His twin nodded, looking almost serious for a second. "Yeah, I heard the first one. Looks like it's option one. Epic battles lie ahead!" Grinning again, he flipped his wand into his right hand again, holding it loosely at his side. "The woods. They must be in the woods. They're certainly not here - or, if they are, I'm impressed by their skill at Disillusionment. And unimpressed by their skill at keeping quiet!" he added, raising his voice slightly. "C'mon, you Oepidus wusses! I'm getting all cold and wet waiting for you!"

"Onwards!" Fabian declared, pointing his wand at the trees and striding purposefully towards them. There was a cheerful lilt to his voice, and he pitched it loud enough to carry deep into the trees. "You know, the funny thing about woods is, you always think you'll stay drier under shelter, but actually, water just drips directly down the back of your neck. Wherever you stand."

"Astonishing, isn't it? It's like a new law of physics. The Prewett Law." Gideon had been reading up on Muggle Studies. It showed. "Water will always drip _on you_, even if it isn't dripping anywhere else. Conclusion; the world hates us all."

"Well, water at least is the enemy of all mankind." He raised his voice again. "Isn't that right, Oepidian scum? Don't you just hate waiting around in a drippy, dribbly wood for a couple of boys fresh from school to come into range? Wouldn't you rather come out and fight us like men and or women, instead of rats?"

"You missed out children," Gideon said in a stage whisper, twirling his wand. "And small animals. You're discriminating against Oepidan small animals, Fab. The squirrel's'll get you first, I swear. _Stupefy!_" he added in a shout, pointing his wand at a rustling bush, and laughed as a grey squirrel collapsed out of it. "See what I mean? Perfect comic timing, by the way, ta very much, Mr Squirrel, and... _that's_more like it!"

He grinned, ducking left, as a bolt of green light flew past his head. Laughing, Fabian ducked in the opposite direction.

"Merlin's balls! The squirrels are coming! Stupefy!" He spun and fired a jet of red light in the direction the spell had come from. "C'mon, you Oepidan bastards! Your mother was your sister and your father smelt of Mouldymort!"

Gideon joined in the laughter. "Nicely put, Newtboy. C'mon, get my back. I think you _really_ riled them with that. They can't handle the truth, after all. Your Greater Spotted Oepidus, now, that's basically a big ball of denial tied up with a pedigree and with a few hundred Galleons weighing down the edges. Whereas your Lesser Spotted Oepi-_Stupefy!_-dus is basically just a minion in minion's clothing."

Fabian, setting his back against Gideon's, grinned. "I want those to be my famous last words. Now, it's too late for them to be my famous last words today, so I suppose death is _stupefy_ just going to have to wait until the opportunity arises."

"Don't worry, Fabbie, I'll cover for you." Gideon grinned, yanking Fabian to one side as a bolt of green light skimmed past them. "Even though - _petrificus totalis!_ - that would be thoroughly dishonest and borderline - _stupfy!_ - Oedipean of me. For your sake, when you die, I'll tell everyone they were your last words. Promise. _STUPFY, I said!_" Looking at his wand with an expression of comedic horror, he slapped his leg and remarked in a drawl that mimicked a Western actor, "Day_um_! The doggawn thing's busted! Well, gee, ain't that just swell? Oh, my bad. _Stupefy_." He gave the Death Eater a cheery wave as the masked figure was thrown back across the clearing. "Come back soon!"

"Don't worry, Gid..._Expelliarmus!_...the longer I put off saying those words..._Petrificus totalis!_...the longer it is 'til I die. Like Avadra Kadoolally. I just..." He pulled Gid down as a jet of red light shot at him, "...have to hold off on saying it again _stupefy_ until ARGH!" His leg buckled as a Slicing Charm ripped through the back of his knee. "Merlin's _balls_ that'll hurt in the morning. Petrificus totalis!"

His attacker collapsed face-first into the wet leaf mould as Fabian stumbled again, catching himself on his brother's shoulder and hurling jinxes and curses at the Death Eaters with his spare hand.

"Oh, that is _it_!" Gideon exclaimed, switching his wand to his left hand so he could support Fabian with his right. "Nobody spills Prewett blood, 'kay? _Nobody_! Definitely not some mangy little Oedipus who couldn't even... _Shit_!"

Shooting a hex back over his shoulder, he hauled Fabian out of the path of a flying Cruciatus. Fabian stumbled as his weight fell onto his injured leg, but swiftly righted himself and, cursing under his breath, shifted his weight off Gideon to free his arm up.

"Yeah! That blood's like liquid gold, guys! Protego!" He erected a shield charm hurriedly around the two of them, pulling Gideon with him as he hobbled backwards to transfer his weight from his brother to the nearest tree. "Gid, you know that prank with the levitating busts that went wrong back in third year? And you know how these tactics aren't really _stupefy_ getting us anywhere? And you know how we're in a wood full of heavy objects and _oh no you don't expelliarmus_ easily split Oepidian skulls?"

"Nice thinking," Gideon agreed, grin spreading as he got Fabian's gist. "You take the left, I'll - _petrificus totalis!_ - take the right, okay? And, hey, remember the shrapnel thing we worked out in fourth year, when we - _stupefy!_ - trashed Filch's office? If we stick that charm on the wood..."

Fabian flashed his brother a rather pained grin and ducked a Killing Curse. "Monkeyman, I love the way your mind works. And a-one two three four _stupefy_ labefactum praemium and wingardium leviosa."

Several fallen branches to the right of the attacking Death Eaters rose into the air, wobbling slightly as Fab's concentration waned due to dodging spells on a badly injured leg. Next to him, Gid began his own part in the endeavour, chatting as cheerily as if they were sitting in the pub over drinks, not fighting for their lives.

"Why, thank you, Newtboy. I have my moments." He grinned, twirling and pointing his wand at a heap of deadwood on the other side of the clearing. "And a one, two, three, f- _Fab! Look out!_"

For once, his smile was gone as he dived shoulder-first into his brother's side, disregarding the state of his brother's leg, mindful only of the curse flying towards them.

It struck him square in the chest, and he had just enough time to think _Oh, so THIS is the Cruciatus_ before everything was utterly engulfed in roaring, shrieking, agonising pain and, after a strained moment, the sound of his own screaming. He collapsed into the churned ground almost without noticing, his wand dropping out of his nerveless hand as he writhed and yelled and curled up into himself, trying with what was left of his sense to be as quiet as possible, not to make things worse... just to stay still and not let Fab see how much this hurt, because Merlin, it _hurt_!

The floating deadwood crashed to the ground along with Fabian, exploding into a thousand flying splinters directly behind the Death Eaters. But the elder of the two brothers barely noticed a witch at the back of the group go down, any more than he noticed the shrieking pain in his injured leg as he charged forwards. He was oblivious to everything except his brother's screams and the people who had done this to him. He ran at them like a mad thing, hair and bloodied robes flying, firing curses indiscriminately at the enemies in front of him.

"STUPEFY! PETRIFICUS TOTALIS! AVADA KEDAVRA! AVADA KEDAVRA! AVADA KEDAVRA!"

Most of his curses missed, but a frizzy-haired witch collapsed, Stunned, and the wizard who had cursed Gideon came down with a bad case of sudden death, making that the fifth out of the original ten that the Prewetts had taken down. The wizard who was holding Gideon in the throes of the Cruciatus met with a flying whirlwind of furious, berserker Prewett; through fair means or foul, his wand flew from his hand in the commotion and clattered away.

The searing pain wrenching at every limb in Gideon's body tore at him, ripped, stabbed...

...and then vanished, as abruptly as it had begun.

Breathing heavily, sucking in great gasps of air, he looked up blearily, fumbling for his fallen wand. His ears were ringing, and his heart thudded painfully in his chest. He thought he might vomit; he knew he couldn't take the time to. But the pain was gone, and his wand was in his hand, and he clawed at the tree next to him, stumbling to his feet.

His laugh was hollow and painful on a throat raw from screaming, but he didn't care.

"Is... is that the best you've got?" he asked hoarsely, almost shouting over the roaring blood in his ears. "Could've... Fab!" His eyes snapped back into focus, seeing his brother, face twisted into a snarl, only pausing from kicking and punching the unfortunate Death Eater who had attacked his twin in order to roar curses at the other attackers, who were held off by his wild, blind blasts.

"Fab, _stop_! Fucking... Merlin, you fucking Oedipuses! _STUPEFY!_" Down went the witch behind Fabian, but only for a moment, and then she was up again. Gideon sagged back against the tree for a second, breathing harsh and ragged, and then suddenly stumbled away from it again, towards Fabian.

Through the wild mist, it took Fabian a moment to realise that Gideon was up again. He was breathing heavily, adrenaline and rage still numbing his bad leg. "Gid, are you ok? We'll..._sanus scindo_!" He was regaining control over himself, and his spell made the witch who pointed her wand at Gideon drop it, clamping his hands over his ears. Fabian glared at the five remaining enemies. "Do not fuck with the Prewetts! Hurt Gid like that again and you'll _wish_ I used the Killing Curse on you. Petrificus totalis!"

"I'm fine," Gideon lied, raising his wand again and sending a Jelly-Legs Jinx at one of the Death eaters before Stunning her. "Nice to know you care, Argo. I - _STAY DOWN, you bitch, you're Stunned!_ Merlin, these Oedipii aren't too good at knowing when to call it a day, are they? _Stupefy!_" He was shaking slightly, but the worst of the effects seemed to be passing. "Listen, Fab, if you want to get out of here, nobody's going to think the worse of you..."

You've known me for nineteen years and you expect me to say yes? Gideon, I'm not a fucking Oepidan coward." He fired off several Stunning spells, knocking the persistant witch out again, and raised his voice. "You bastards might not know the meaning of the word 'quit', but we _invented_ bloody-mindedness, and we're not going down just yet!"

Feigning disinterest, Gideon shrugged. "Always worth a try, Mr Walking Wounded. _Petrificus totalis!_" He ran a hand through his hair. "Hey, Argo, if we go all Styxian - _Stupefy!_ - out here in the Styx, I just want you to have a cally that this is all your fault. You and your lousy _expelliarmus!_ tracking. Just thought I'd put that - _Protego!_ - out there."

"Lousy-_shit, expelliarmus!_-tracking my arse, Herc. We found some _STUPEFY STUPEFY STUPEFY!_ Oepidii, didn't we? And we're not going to..."

His sentence trailed off into a bloodcurdling scream as the Cruciatus Curse ripped through him, sent by the wizard behind him. Either he had the presence of mind to kick out as he fell (doubtful), or his flailing just got lucky, because his foot cracked into the wizard's knee hard enough that there was an audible snap, and the wizard stumbled back as Fabian writhed in agony. Gideon's face hardened, and he whirled around to face the wizard whose wand was pointed at Fabian.

"You don't learn, do you?" he said coldly, dispelling his Shield Charm. "Avada Kedavra."

It was the first time he'd said those words and meant them, but he was too angry to be ashamed when the green light flashed from his wand and the wizard fell dead.

"Fab," he said with surreal calm, spinning on his heel with his wand raised. "Fab, listen to me. We have to..."

And that was when the curse struck him in the chest, in another flash of vibrant green.

There was no drama to it, really. Just Gideon Prewett, silent for once, drawing an arc through the rain dribbling from the leaves. The life had already left his open eyes when he hit the ground, going in a split second from nineteen-year-old Auror to cooling meat.

He looked shocked, under the hair that had worked itself loose from its ponytail; looked as though that had been at once the first and the last thing he had expected. His wand rolled out of his nerveless hand, splashed into a puddle, and lay as still as he did.

Fabian, kneeling on the ground, his blood mixing with the muddy rainwater, stared at his dead brother. The cogs of the world seemed to stick for a moment. This didn't work. It couldn't be happening. Gideon wasn't meant to die. Time had stopped. Something had come unstuck, and there was a huge Gideon-shaped hole in the universe and an immense pressure in Fabian's chest waiting to blossom into pain the moment it hit him.

"Gid," he murmured in a flat, toneless, broken voice.

And then time started again, and the pain exploded, and all hell broke loose. "GID!" he yelled again, leaping to his feet and charging at the few remaining Death Eaters. "GID! AVADA KEDAVRA! CRUCIO! GID! YOU BASTARDS! YOU UTTER BASTARD WHORE MOTHERFUCKERS! CRUCIO! CRUCIO! YOU..." His spells and his swearwords alike disappeared into incomprehensible yelling, hiccuping sobs, shouting himself hoarse in a matter of seconds as tears poured out of his eyes. The Fabian he was half an hour ago would never have dreamt of torturing someone to death, but the witch who'd thrown that spell didn't deserve a Killing Curse. She needed to hurt, she needed to hurt like he was hurting, and he kept that spell going on and on, bitterly relishing every scream and wail as he collapsed on the muddy ground next to his brother, face set in a rictus of broken-hearted rage.

He didn't notice the last Death Eater, or perhaps he just didn't care when the pale wizard with the dark hair pointed his wand at the wild teenager with the tear-washed face and fired that last killing curse.

The bodies lay there until they were discovered the next morning by a group of Aurors combing the woods. The twins, with blood dried on Fabian's hands and leg, with their cold skin waxy and wet with rain, with every trace of the silly, mischievous, painfully intelligent and loyal boys who had once roamed Hogwarts gone from their corpses. And the dead and Stunned Death Eaters surrounding them. It took ten people to bring them down, and they were remembered.

It was the end of two of the greatest young Aurors of the War. Unexpectedly, though, it was only the beginning for two of the silliest.

"White doesn't suit you, Monkeyman."

"You go on believing that, Mr My-Wings-Are-Bigger-Than-Yours, but I happen to think my hair sets these robes off rather well. And your halo's not even on straight."

"It's a _rakish angle_, Gibbon, it'll get all the girls swooning. When we, you know, meet some girls."

"Actually, what _are _we meant to do here? I haven't seen any Helens, there's nothing to read, no wands, no prankable materials…"

Fabian flopped down onto the soft white nothingness at his feet, staring down to where an image resolved itself, pensieve-like, in the mist. Gideon joined him after a moment, and together they watched as their bodies were borne away from the wood.

"I s'pose we can always keep an eye on things back there. You know I always promised Mol we'd be there to watch her kids grow up."

"Yeah." For a moment, Gideon's face darkened. "Just so long as they do. It's going to get worse before it gets better. You and I both know that."

Fabian pulled a face and huffed his reluctant agreement. "We didn't even get past bloody _Dolohov_. He's small fry. It looks like taking down Mouldymort is going to take some doing."

"Someone'll do it." Gideon squeezed Fabian's hand as they watched their big sister hear the news of their deaths, watched her knuckles whiten as she held onto her husband for dear life, whilst little Billy and Charlie watched with solemn, scared faces. "Sooner or later. We'll just have to wait."

A NOTE:_ The first chapter of this particular piece is a collaboration between me and my darling sister, who is responsible for Gideon's half of the conversation: as twins ourselves, we find we get an epic dynamic going when we can write a twin each._

_Plus this scene would have broken me without a helping hand. Due to aforementioned twin-ness, imagining one twin having to see the other die pretty much defines my worst nightmare._

_So my thanks to Jormy, and if I ever take this story in the direction I want to, the mood will NOT be so heavy again._

_As relates to the Prewett twins, our take on them (as characters with little to no actual development) might take some getting used to. In terms of their slang, which is a sort of code for the two of them, a lot of it is based on Greek mythology...key phrase for this chapter is "Oepidus", which naturally refers to Death Eaters and blood-purists._


End file.
